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The Battalion
)!ume 1 10 • I -uc • 14 pa'j<
A Texas A&M T radition Since 1X93
Sports:
Aggies lose to
Texas Tech in
heartbreaker.
Page IB
PACE DESIGN BY • LAUREN ROUSE
griculture recruits
ispanic students
By Michael Player
THE BATTALION
For students enrolled in high
fchools in the Rio (irande Valiev to
lain insight into the Texas A&M
follege of Agriculture and Life
I ciences, a new outreach program
liat has been created to increase
I iversity within the college.
The program, called the
Indergraduate Educational
Initiative Program, targets students
Ind their parents to infomi them
l/hy minorities should enroll here.
I “We want to destroy the sterco-
t that agriculture means
igrant labor, and 1 am unaware of
I ny other program that has such an
Ixtensive outreach program like
lurs,” said Edward Romero, assis-
t it dean of the College of
I agriculture and Life Sciences.
I We have over 25 degree plans
I ere at the College of Agriculture
Ind Life Sciences and we want
■he program was created to
increase diversity within the
Bollege of Agriculture and
^ife Sciences.
■Targets minority students
■and parents
I College saw a
114 percent
I increase in
I minority
■ enrollment in
I the 2002 - 2003
I school year
Bonly program of its kind at
■ Texas A&M
RUBEN DELUNA • THE
IRCE: EDWARD ROMERO. Ofj
BATTALION
people to know that there is more
than just ag production.”
According to a state mandated
report from the office of Gov.
Rick Perry, by the year 2040. 67
percent of college students will
be Hispanic and the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences
wanted to find a way to reach out
to this particular group.
“In our Abriendo Puertos
(Opening Doors) Program, we
can connect with the parents and
empower them to support their
children’s college access and par
ticipation efforts,” Romero said.
Romero is the co-creator of the
initiative program along with Hector
Aldape, who is in charge of student
recruitment mid works in the Valley.
The new program is supported
by other programs such as
Minorities in Agriculture. Natural
Resources and Related Sciences
(MANRRS). which is aimed at
implementing initiatives and
advancements of members of ethi
cal and minority groups under rep
resented in the field of agriculture.
Last year, the A&M chapter of
MANRRS was named national
chapter of the year.
“We are really proud of that
award because MANRRS is a
national organization and it brings
us a lot of recognition.” said Cindy
Garza, the chapter president.
Because of the recognition the
college is receiving, last year the
College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences saw a 14 percent increase
in minority enrollment, which is
prtxif that the outreach is paying
off. Garza said.
An important program new to
the initiative program is the
Master Volunteer Program, cen
tered in Hidalgo County. The
See Ag on page 2A
In step
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S**..**
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ART WRIGHT • THE BATTALION
Delta Sigma Theta sorority members perform a dance routine in Rudder Auditorium Friday night. The step show was hosted by the MSC Town Hall
and the Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference.
Step show highlights conference
By Kristin Kemp
THE BATTALION
As more than 600 students gathered on campus for the
Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference (SBSLC)
this weekend to participate in workshops and listen to speakers,
Jumoke Babaloa said her favorite part of the conference is the
variety show performance, which she attends every year.
This year. Babaloa. a junior elementary education major, said
she was there to support a friend who was performing.
The show on Friday featured performances by representatives
from three sororities and one fraternity, as well as poet Amanda
Diva. Step Afrika and a hip hop freestyle contest.
Performers from the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Alpha Kappa
Alpha sorority. Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Sigma Gamma Ro
sorority performed step routines.
“I’m here to support the Delta undergrads stepping tonight”
said Daphne Watkins, a Texas A&M Ph.D. student.
Each group included information about its organization and
what it represented during its performance.
Poet Amanda Diva portrayed her liberal views in creative
rhymes and enlightened the audience on her opinions about vari
ous controversial topics.
Step Afrika. the internationally known dance ensemble, put on
several step performances and informed the audience about the
links the art form of stepping has to its origin in the mines of
South Africa.
.See Step on page 8A
‘Lord of the Rings’ top winner at Golden Globe awards
By Anthony Breznican
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEVERLY HILLS. Calif. —
Hobbits ruled the Golden Globes on
Sunday as “The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King” won four tro
phies including best dramatic film.
“Lost in Translation,” a story of two
lonely Americans who find friendship
in a Tokyo hotel, collected three
awards, including best comedy film,
best comedy actor for Bill Murray and
best screenplay for Sofia Coppola, who
wrote, produced and directed the film.
“Rings” master Peter Jackson was
recognized as best director, and the
film won two musical awards.
“I never realized that seven years
on this movie would end up turning me
into a Hobbit.” Jackson said, referring
to the shortish, big-footed magical
characters in the J.R.R. Tolkien stories.
“To all of the actors, our magical cast,
you just gave so much to the movies
and equally importantly you made it so
much fun to work on.”
Among TV nominees, HBO’s six-
hour adaptation of playwright Tony
Kushner’s “Angels in America” won
five trophies, including best miniseries
or TV movie.
But movies gathered most of the
attention as Sean Penn collected best
movie drama actor for playing an emo
tionally ravaged father seeking revenge
for his daughter’s murder in “Mystic
River,” and Chariize Theron won the
drama actress honor for “Monster,”
the story of a prostitute serial killer.
Theron thanked writer-director
Patty Jenkins for believing she could
play the role: “There’s only so much
you can do, but if somebody doesn’t
give you a chance there is nothing you
can do.”
Murray thanked Coppola and went
on to dryly mock Hollywood award
speeches, declaring he had fired all his
agents and representatives and had no
one else to thank.
He also poked fun at the idea that
comedy perfonners are overshadowed
by dramatic stars. “Too often we for
get our brothers on the other side of the
aisle — the dramatic actors,” he said.
“I’d just like to say: Where would our
war, our miseries and our psychologi
cal traumas come from?”
Coppola, collecting the best screen
play trophy, thanked her father —
“The Godfather’’ director and co
writer Francis Ford Coppola, calling
him “a great screenwriting teacher.”
Diane Keaton as an older woman in
love in “Something’s Gotta Give” col
lected a Golden Globe for lead comedy
performances. “Getting to play a
woman to love at 57 is like reaching
for the stars with a step ladder. I know
I got lucky,” said Keaton.
The Hollywood Foreign Press
See Globes on page 2A
Memorial
Vorkers unload the integral piece of the Bonfire Memorial early
friday morning. This particular piece of granite is the first of 89
. to arrive that will be placed on the history walk represent-
ng each year that Bonfire was a part of A&M tradition. Each
piece of granite is imported to San Antonio from Southern China
pnd then delivered by truck to the memorial site. The Bonfire
Aemorial is set to open next November, the 5th anniversary of
Bonfire collapse.
U.S. rescue helicopter crashes in Tigris River
By Paul Garwood
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TIKR1T, Iraq — A U.S. heli
copter crashed in the Tigris river
while searching for a missing sol
dier on Sunday, and the aircraft’s
two crew members were missing,
the military said.
It did not say what caused the
crash of the OH-58D Kiowa
Warrior helicopter, attached to the
101st Airborne Division.
The helicopter was searching
for a soldier missing when the
boat he was in capsized earlier
Sunday while on patrol. The other
three soldiers in boat were safe,
but two Iraqi police officers and
an Iraqi translator were confirmed
killed in the incident, said Maj.
Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman
for the 4th Infantry Division.
She said the search for the
two pilots was underway. U.S.
troops and Iraqi police sealed off
the area and established check
points to secure the search and
rescue operation.
U.S. troops rushing to the
scene came under “limited and
ineffective small arms fire,” the
spokeswoman said. An Iraqi
policeman manning one of the
checkpoints was killed in a drive-
by shooting, witnesses said.
It was the fifth helicopter crash
in Iraq this month — three of
them due to hostile fire.
U.S. troops arrested nearly 50
people Sunday in raids in the
Sunni Triangle after attacks in the
volatile region killed six
American soldiers.
Most of the arrests occurred in
Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of
Baghdad, where 46 people were
detained in a series of raids, the
U.S. military said. Three were
arrested for alleged anti-coalition
activities and the rest for illegal
weapons possession.
Soldiers of the 4th Infantry
Division also seized 220 hand
grenades in a raid on a house in
the town of Mukayshifa, located
south of Saddam Hussein’s home
town Tikrit, according to spokes
woman Maj. Josslyn Aberle. ;t .
The raids in the Sunni heart*
land followed a series of bomb
ings and attacks Saturday in
See Helicopter on page 2A
NASA ‘flabbergasted’ by Mars’ unusual rock photos
By Andrew Bridges
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s
Opportunity rover zipped its first pictures of
Mars to Earth on Sunday, delighting and puz
zling scientists just hours after the spacecraft
bounced to a landing.
The pictures show a surface smooth and
dark red in some places, and strewn with frag
mented slabs of light bedrock in others.
Bounce marks left by the rover’s air bags
when it landed were clearly visible.
“I am flabbergasted. I am astonished. I am
blown away. Opportunity has touched down in
an alien and bizarre landscape,” said Steven
Squyres, of Cornell University and the mis
sion’s main scientist. “I still don’t know what
we’re looking at.”.
NASA began receiving the first of dozens
of black-and-white and color images from
Opportunity about four hours after its flawless
landing. Mars at the time was 124 million
miles from Earth.
Mission members hooted and hollered as
the images splashed on a screen in mission
control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was
there with his wife, Maria Shriver, to watch the
drama unfold, and walked through mission
control shaking hands with the scientists.
“The pictures just blow me away. We’ve
certainly not been to this place before,”
deputy project manager Richard Cook said.
Opportunity plunged into the martian
atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph and
bounced down on Mars just six minutes later,
swaddled in protective air bags. It hit with a
force estimated to be just two to three times
that of Earth’s gravity. Engineers had
See NASA on page 8A